FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vehicle to which a conventional wiper blade is mounted, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the conventional wiper blade.
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the conventional wiper apparatus comprises a wiper arm 15 installed at one side of a vehicle body 10 and rotated from side to side by a wiper motor (not shown), and a wiper blade 20 mounted to the wiper arm 15, moved on and contacted with a windshield 12 to wipe it, and provided with a wiper strip 30.
The wiper blade 20 is coupled with the wiper arm 15 and is rotated within a predetermined angle range according to operation of the wiper motor. To this end, a main link 22 of the wiper blade 20 is coupled with the wiper arm 15. A plurality of intermediate links 24 are connected to the main link 22 through pins 25 for uniformly transmitting pressure of the wiper arm 15 to the main link 22. A plurality of sub links 26 are connected to the intermediate links 24 with pins 27 to connect the intermediate links 24 to the wiper strip 30. Also, clips 28 are formed at both ends of the sub link 26 and coupled with coupling grooves formed in the wiper strip 30.
Further, the wiper blade 20 is provided with a joint 29 to reduce a friction force between the main link 22 and the intermediate links 24.
In the wiper blade according to the prior art, however, a process of assembling a wiper strip as well as a structure for securing it are complicated, whereby there is a problem in that a time required for assembling the wiper blade is increased to lower a productivity of the articles. Also, in the conventional wiper blade, since the links are moved relative to each other when the wiper blade is operated, noises can be generated in the operation of the wiper blade. In addition, in the conventional wiper blade, the wiper blade is lifted up from the windshield by the wind when the vehicle is driven at a high speed, which causes a contacting force between the wiper blade and the windshield to be lowered. Accordingly, in order to solve the above problem, the structure in which an additional windbreak rib is provided on the main link has been proposed. However, a complete solution has not been proposed, so that there is a room for improvement of the wiper blade.
Technical Problem
The present invention is conceived to solve the aforementioned problems in the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a wiper blade, which has a wiper frame formed to have elasticity, thereby being simple in structure, and has a connector, which is to be coupled with a wiper arm and is more accurately and securely coupled with the wiper frame.
Technical Solution
According to the present invention for achieving the above object, there is provided a wiper blade according to the present invention comprises a wiper strip in contact with the windshield, the wiper strip having a rail groove formed; a wiper frame having a coupling slit to be coupled with the rail groove and a coupling aperture formed in an end of the coupling slit, the wiper frame being curved along? its lengthwise direction to provide an elastic force for bring the wiper strip into close contact with the windshield; and a connector to be coupled with the wiper frame and coupled to a wiper arm, wherein the wiper strip is arranged perpendicular to the windshield and coupled with the wiper frame to be inclined with respect thereto, and the connector has an inclined coupling structure for coupling the wiper frame to the wiper arm.
Here, a connecting rod is mounted to be inclined by causing the lengths of front and rear portions of a connecting rod portion to differ from each other, or a lower surface of the connector in contact with the wiper frame is formed to be inclined by causing the lengths of the front and rear portions of the assembling portion to differ from each other, so that the inclined coupling structure may be configured. In addition, the wiper frame may have an inclined portion formed in an end thereof in which the coupling aperture is formed, the coupling aperture being bent to be opened slantingly at a predetermined angle. In the meantime, the wiper strip may comprise a body portion, a coupling section formed on an upper end of the body portion and having a rail groove provided therein, and a strip portion formed in a lower end of the body portion to be brought into contact with the windshield, and the strip portion has a portion corresponding to the end inclined portion of the wiper frame removed. Further, the wiper frame may be formed with at least one coupling slit having a coupling aperture formed in one end thereof, and the wiper strip may be formed corresponding to the coupling slit. In addition, recesses may be formed in both sides of the coupling slit, and the wiper strip may also comprise protrusions positioned in the recesses when the wiper strip is coupled with the wiper frame. Also, the wiper frame may comprise a through portion formed in front and rear sides with respect to the coupling slit and connected with the coupling slit, and an arch-shaped rib formed over the through portion and connecting both the sides of the wiper frame. In addition, the wiper frame may comprise an auxiliary coupling slit connected with the coupling aperture and is formed collinearly with the coupling slit. Further, front and rear portions of the wiper frame with respect to the coupling slit may be symmetric in shape, or any one of the front and rear portions with respect to the coupling slit may be larger than the other one. Furthermore, the connector may be coupled to the wiper frame by any one of curling, riveting, welding or bonding with adhesive. A fixing protrusion may be formed on any one of the contact surfaces between the connector and the wiper frame, and a fixing hole corresponding to the fixing protrusion may be formed in the other one. The connector may have a lower surface curved with the same curvature as that of the wiper frame.
According to another embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, there is provided a wiper blade, comprising a wiper strip in contact with a windshield; a wiper frame coupled with the wiper strip and curved along its lengthwise direction to provide an elastic force for bring the wiper strip into close contact with the windshield; and a connector coupled with the wiper frame to be coupled to a wiper arm, wherein a spoiler is integrally formed on the wiper frame to be inclined at a predetermined angle.
The wiper frame may comprise a bending slit for bending the spoiler. Also, the wiper frame may comprise at least one or both of an upper spoiler formed on a rear surface of the wiper frame to be inclined upward and a lower spoiler formed on a front surface of the wiper frame to be inclined downward.